racelikustolit3k

My Feedback: (73)

why do I need luck ?????

Augie11

I think you've gotten some good advise here. Age and flying ability often do not correlate. I'm 66, have been R/C flying for about 18 years. Experience does count but it's up to you to judge your abilities. If you like warbirds, pick up a good .60 size ARF to get used to them. I WOULD suggest a single engine rather than a B-17 but only because multi-engines with retracts require getting used toa lot of minor things can go wrong and ruin your experience. Try a Spitfire, P-51 or Hellcat first.

Your fieldmates should give you a break. Many young people pick this hobby up quickly, more quickly than those my age. I'd be more worried about a 75 year old flying a turbine the first time. Yet just yesterday, I was at the field to see it. We were all a bit nervous but it worked well! Personally, I wouldn't attempt it. Be honest with yourself about your limitations but on the other hand if you don't expand your skills into newer, more challanging areas, you'll never make the progress you deserve.

Best of luck young man. Fly safely, progress in complexity at a reasonable rate (for YOU) and honestly evaluate your ability. Hopefully, you will never reach your limits. If you do, you'll know it!

SushiSeeker

Gaining experience today isn't what it was for those of us that consider ourselves "experienced". The older guys learned to fly passing the transmitter back and forth or if you were lucky you had a buddy box system. Experience came slowly and you broke a lot of planes. Today, kids learn hand/eye coordination on video games and everyone can learn with a simulator. We cannot hold the same benchmark for experience as we once did.

As for maturity, every kid and situation is different. My teens sometimes do the dumbest things but when I take them down to the gun range they are strictly business. They know they are handling a potentially deadly weapon and they respect it and follow the safety procedures accordingly (under my supervision of course). I see this young man as no different. And BTW - just because you are older, does not mean you are necessarily more mature, either.

Go 4 it!

andromeda160

My Feedback: (2)

im 16 and have been flying for 4 years, at my club alot of people enjoy people getting into larger aircraft, i've only flown 2 times by myself because I don't have the money but one of our members let me fly his and he also trained me to fly it. If flying it makes you happy I say go for it, you obviously know the risks that you're taking financially and you have more than enough experience in my eyes. enjoy flying those big birds!

frets24

My Feedback: (15)

I'm happy to see your answer...Indicates a degree of desire and responsibilty. Not the typical run to the Mommy/Daddy money tree to satisfy all your desires. I worked constantly at all sorts of thing at your age, from paper routes, lawn mowing, snowshoveling...whatever to make a buck. Bought a brand new, off the lot, '78 Trans Am at 16 with my own earnings, @$5500...everyone said I'd wreck it, ruin it, or kill myself in it because that was too much car car for a dips@#t kid. sold it in 2005 for $15,000...obviously in (still) great condition. So much for the wisdom/opinion of others "who know better" (sometimes).

I would say, from experience, work a bit less at your age and enjoy your youth. Don't be intimidated by the nay sayers around you, there will always be those who will want to put you down or back, for myriad reasons. Be respectful, fly safely and within your ability, and fly what really speaks to you...whether it be 40 size trainers, 30% Yaks, or giant scale, scaled out warbirds.

(I am wondering how you get 30+ hours at your age without running afoul of child labor laws though? family business? Not that it matters if it's your choice. I certainly trashed any child labor laws from 9 or 10 forward, so no comment there! )

fcomer84

It sounds to me like a bunch of jealous, old gas passers that cannot afford or don't have the talent to fly a warbird type of plane. If I were you, I would get a WW I fighter and really show them how its done!

Pete737

This May makes 2 years flying RC for me. Less than one year after my first RC flight (Hanger 9 40 size cub) I was flying a very heavy, Very expensive F-16 turbine..

If you KNOW you can do it, Chances are you probably can... If your flying planes in which the consensus has determined are advanced or tricky and you fly and land them effortlessly and more importantly consistently, That's a good sign.

Do what makes you feel happy bud. If I listened to the peanut gallery Id still be flying trainers.

Pete

LargeScale88

I also have a small lawn business. I saved up, and bought my first John Deer Riding tractor when i was 12, still runs great today. Sense I'm getting into bigger airplanes, I need more money, and I'm not trying to be lazy during my school vacation, so I found this job washing motorhomes and RVs.

I honestly thinki can take these warbirds on. I have the experience of flying the p-51 from realflight, and how they say they fly. I've flown my little sig hog bipe in 15+ mph winds, cross runway. I'm good with the rudder, I use most rudder to turn the ailerons and elevator, cause I know rudder is a must on more scale airplanes.

My older brother is 17, no job, couch potato. Hes asked for more money from my parents than I have. So I'm trying to make a descent living in my young age.

fcomer84

I applaude you! You remind me of me when I was young. I worked hard for my toys, too. Work hard, play hard. You fly whatever makes you happy and forget about what others say! You are a young man headed for a bright future!

Charlie P.

It has been my experience that the quickest way to piss off the old farts is to do something that might endanger their models in the air or in the pits, or especially anything that strays "out of bounds" into the flightline and behind. Few of them take critical notice of someone doing things safely and properly.

You want to piss off Russia? Invade it's airspace. Same is true with old farts.

TexasAirBoss

My Feedback: (22)

Since you have the ability and you say you have the money from building cell phone circuit boards 32 hours per week, You should buy what ever you want.

dmowery

Fly what you want - Us ol farts as we are known , do the same thing - if they dont like what we fly and want to grumble and we are flying by the rules and doing it safe - "Tough"

Im doing it all the time , nothing anyone does at the field is the right way according to rule 97 in ol farts fly book,

Me Im a 72 year ol guy, and still injoy getting the ol farts goats, Yup if they sayit cant or wont work , doit anyway just to pee um off or show them , PS keepthe grin to yerself
Go for it have fun and injoy it as it should be

LargeScale88

Oldfarts at my field have a hard time landing there little sig 4 star 40, so how can they talk about scale warbirds.

David Jackson

My Feedback: (15)

Age has nothing to do with what you fly. If you have the desire and the skills, you should fly whatever makes you happy (what you can afford). We have a 4 years kid at our field that flies his dad's 100cc aerobatic plane and in my opinion, has better skills than many that have been flying for many years. So whatever floats your boat, go for it and don't let anyone hold you back. You may only be 15 years of age, but I would bet your reflexes and eyesight are much better than the club members trying to steer you away from the planes you would like as a next project.[8D]

Waco

My Feedback: (265)

I don't care what age the flyer is if he flys in a rectless manner I am not going to fly with them, I have seen flyers fly behind the flight line fly right at themselves and turn at the last minute and do all kinds of stupid stuff all in name of fun, and 90% of them were young flyers under 21 years old. The young like to take chances and will do stupid things, I was young once and did the same. Thats why you need old farts around to keep you from doing such things. Being smart and mature are not the same thing, you can be smart and very immature. My experience with young people that there are very few that are mature at your age. sure there are some but the majority is not. I started flying when I was 16 years old and club I belong to was mostly older guys and I had no problems with them as long as I followed the club rules and showed them respect. The only kids that had trouble were the ones that came in with a attitude problem and showed no respect for anyone else. When you belong to a club you have get along with people or you will never be welcome.

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

Age had more to do with what I could afford to fly. As I gained experience over the years, the type of planes I flew advanced.

Live Wire

I have been reading your thread
Just don't let some one pop your BUBBLE. I am 73 and fly what I dam well please. You will learn down the road that you have a lot to learn about the people you fly with. they have had thear hard KNOCKS and survived.


Spelling[:@]
And I was flying before you were Born

LargeScale88

Well I have about the best vision someone can have. My grandpa was a fighter pilot in a FAST Jet, he had great eyes, and mine are better than his.

I've dealed with every situation you can think of.

Deadsticks
Gear comes on
Tires come off
Radio Locking
Control surfaces came off

I've dealed with alot of stuff that could happen, I don't panick, but I simply try and get the airplane down safely, doesn't have to be on the runway, but I try not to smash it.I would rather loose a $4000 airplane then hit someone in the stands, thats for sure.

LargeScale88

Well, I have 20/20 vision, and fast relexes. I've dealed with about anything that could go wrong in flight with a rc aircraft. Lot of guys panick when something goes wrong. I have a quick reaction to whats going on, best way to get it down safely without hitting anything but the ground and especially not hitting anyone

Live Wire

Like I said Don't let some one POP YOUR BUBBLE When it does you will wonder Where did I go wrong[:@] No one is what you are trying to be. Sorry , This is the way I see you coming on. You are a bright person. Prove It

In time you will find
out MONEY is not every thing
BUT it sure makes a hell of a difference

worldmodelsmach1

My Feedback: (1)

Well, Im 14 years old and Im already flying a 27% gasser on my 2nd year of flying overall. Already I can make better landings (most of the time) than many of the people in my club (No offense intended) but im still cautious about what I do because in my opinion, if you have a small scale plane, you do have the capability to kill someone but with these larger scale planes (75cc+), if you run into someone, killing them is almost guaranteed. You just need to know what your doing and you'll be fine.

hairy46

My Feedback: (1)

There was a 9 year old flying a Hangar 9 Hellcat at War-birds over the Rockies a couple years ago, not only was he very capable he had some of the best landings all weekend! Its all up stars even new stairs!

Live Wire

It is not just knowing what you are doing but can you cover your ARSS when it happens. Make a lot of difference when it is you or your Parents. being liable for what you do[:@]

Back to the subject of MONEY

erbroens

Keep in mind that the boys wich flew the full size ones where not much older than you, and worse, while being shot by the baddies...

Go ahead, buy that P-51 or whatever and at the same time read about how to take it off and land it properly in sites like RCU.

Enrique

Oberst

Well, to be perfectly honest I believe most adult parents like myself wouldn't give their kids the keys to their high preformance sport cars. Most deaths occure with young people behind the wheel, that's why the fee's are more expensive for young people.

I don't know you or the " Ol timers " at your club so I really can't take sides on this matter.

I know for me when I first joined Radio Aero Modelers Club every one was kind to me until I told them what I wanted to buy and fly, and not to mention I had the answers to everyones aircraft problems, and had all the answers on how to build planes.

And my way was always better, no matter if I was right or wrong. ( Some of you in RCU remember how I was 8 years ago.)

Some people showed up not to fly their planes, but to watch me take chances because I believed I had more knowledge than most. I admit I've run accross some young people that seemed to know it all and watched them crash for entertainment. ( Evil Petey [:@] )

My Club tolerated me and waited for the day that I finally said I didn't know and asked for help. What I thought were jerks were the nicest people in the world! What took me hours or days to fix a engine issue only took 20 minutes for them to diagnose.

Now I get along with all the members of my Club except one who rushed in this hobby, was new and saw people fly more advanced aircraft and wanted to prove he was just as good. Guess what, he's back on trainers again and blames everyone else on his misfortunes and crashes. I just keep my mouth shut around him and let him behave like the jerk he really is.

Matter in fact our Club elected him as Safety Officer because he had more crashes than anyone else for the past 3 years. [sm=lol.gif]
You guys want to know the latest? He's trying to be the clubs flying instructor.

But to each is own... and he's in his ealy 60's. For me when I tried to " Show em they're wrong " usually I find myself the one in trouble.

Now it's being wrong I don't mind so much anymore. I miss being a Teen though, that's when I really knew everything. [sm=confused_smile.gif]

I think the question that you raised here can not be correctly answered because we can only read one side of the issue.

I just ask that you ask one of the instructors at your club to stand by when you are ready to fly your Warbird. If you get in trouble, he or she will be there to help, and there will be less argument to weather you can handle these planes or not. As a result of this, I believe most likely everyone will leave you alone in the future about this matter.

Just don't do this...



I have this philosophy, " If 3 or more are saying the same thing I have to evaluate the issue a little further."

Everything I wrote is only my opinion with good intentions implied.


Pete